Colin Ainscough

Amri "immediately" produced a gun when approached by police and shot an officer during a routine patrol in the northern Italian city early on Friday.

Tunisian national Anis Amri

The Tunisian was then killed, and there is "absolutely no doubt" that the man was Amri, Italian interior minister Marco Minniti said.

Amri, 24, was suspected of driving a truck into crowds at a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, killing 12 people and injuring 48.

At a press conference on Friday morning, Mr Minniti said: "One of our police officers on patrol stopped a person who was just walking around looking very suspect. And the moment he was stopped, the man, without hesitating, he immediately took his gun and shot at the police officer who asked him for his identification papers."

Floral tributes to the victim of the Berlin truck attack

He added: "There is absolutely no doubt that the person who was killed is Anis Amri, the suspect of the terrorist attack in Berlin."

Although the minister declined to disclose too many operational details, he lauded the moment - which took place at 3am - as demonstrative of the excellence of Italy's security services.

He said: "I would like to thank the whole of the security of our country. Italy should be really proud of our security full stop and I repeat - really proud, full stop."

Mr Minniti added: "As soon as this person entered our country he was the most wanted man in Europe and we immediately identified him and neutralised him and this means our security is working really well."

The minister said: "We are talking about an operation that happened at three in the morning in the middle of a really important city centre and it happened in complete security.

"The only problem was for the police officer who was shot - no-one else was injured."